Skulky Sparrows — Sonoran Desert Images

I completed Seattle Audubon’s master birder program in 2008, which was a great experience and really increased my ID abilities and knowledge of the natural history of birds. That having been said, birding is such a huge and challenging undertaking, that species ID is always a challenge and successful ID of every bird you see is never possible. This is especially true for me since we moved to SE Arizona in February of 2019 - the habitat, and therefore the bird species, are quite different than bird species in the Pacific NW where we lived for 40 years before moving to the desert. Of course, lots of species seen in the NW pass through SE Arizona in migration (both spring and fall) and a few NW species are also resident down here. Birding by ear has gone from a strength to having to really start over learning the vocalizations of the common species down here. It will be awhile until I know the local species as well as I did the PNW species.

One group of birds which is particularly challenging to ID (and photograph) is the sparrow family. There are a lot of sparrow species, and to non-birders (including beginning birders) they look almost identical - they’re called LBJ’s or LBB’s by some folks (little brown jobs, or little brown birds). Actually, sparrows can be identified fairly easily IF you get a really good look at a bird, or manage to take a decent photo. Because sparrows tend to be nervous, shy and often forage in grass or thick vegetation, getting a good look or a good photo is not an easy task.

Today I went out in the morning with a new camera, not for birding particularly, and stopped along Whitehouse Canyon Road (the road to birders’ world-famous Madera Canyon) to get some landscape shots. It was relatively early and there were chips, chirps and songs happening, so I started to look for birds - despite having only brought my camera and no binoculars (something one shouldn’t admit to fellow birders). Birds, including a number of sparrows, were flitting back and forth but either out of decent camera range or immediately diving into the foot-high grass and desert shrubs to feed. I managed to get shots of two species of sparrows with good enough detail for a positive ID and I’ve posted them below.

This image is of a Vesper Sparrow, a species that winters in our area but moves north in the spring to breed. The distinctive field marks in this image are the prominent white eye ring and the streaking on the upper breast with an unmarked belly.

The Rufous-winged Sparrow is a year-round resident species in our portion of the Sonoran Desert, but this area is about the only place in the US that this species can be found. So…it is a highly sought-after species for birders visiting from other areas of the country or the world. I’ve found them hard to see, even though they are quite commonly heard singing in the spring - including from our back yard. This species looks similar to Chipping Sparrow, but this photo (though not the sharpest one and certainly not an art piece!) shows some of the key field marks. The namesake rufous wings (and shoulder patch) cannot be seen here, and aren’t all that obvious to my eyes anyway even when seen. Here you can see that the eyestripe is dark (almost black) in front of the eye, but turns reddish brown (rufous) behind the eye. Chipping Sparrow has a dark black eyestripe both in front and back of the eye. Also here you can see a bicolored bill - the lower mandible lighter than the upper. Additionally, you can see with a close look that the legs here are yellowish. Chipping Sparrow has pink legs. Another similar species found in the SW and parts of Texas is the Rufous-crowned Sparrow. That species has darker gray underparts and a darker malar stripe (the stripe leading from the corner of the bill down along the side of the throat).

I’ll keep trying to get better images of all the desert species as I get more time in the area.